I was setting up some UPS monitoring at a costumer, and i got into a “discusison” with a collegaue about the first dot in a OID. We were discussing whether or not you need the dot before the first number when creating monitors/rules in SCOM 2012.

We went ahead and created two simple monitors – one with the dot and one without:

UPS Battery Temperature:

.1.3.6.1.4.1.318.1.1.1.2.2.2.0

UPS Battery Temperature – WITHOUT DOT:

1.3.6.1.4.1.318.1.1.1.2.2.2.0

I faked a temperature alert and i got:

I got two alerts! So actually, apparently it doesn’t make a living difference if you use the dot or not. However, I do recommend using the dot, as the dot is always listed in the MIB.